Poll

Education

Principals at Evergreen High School and Middle School say a parent’s suggestion to switch the schools’ start times so EHS starts later likely will not happen by August.

They say there are too many groups to get on the same page before any changes could be made, including bus schedules and after-school activities. In addition, there is not enough time to make sure that parents would agree to such a switch.

King-Murphy Elementary parents threatened to pull their children from the school after the Clear Creek school board voted 4-1 Tuesday night not to renew the contract of beloved sixth-grade teacher Beth Cavanaugh for the 2016-17 school year.

About 40 parents and teachers spent more than 60 minutes pleading with the board to keep Cavanaugh at the school. More than 20 people spoke, including three students, all emphasizing that Cavanaugh is a great teacher who sparks excitement for learning.

It was ironic that several students at the Young Writers Conference last Thursday titled their books “The Crazy Weather.”

The plots weren’t about a huge snowstorm like the one that hit the mountain area over the weekend. Instead, they were about taco and rotten-banana rain, rainbow sand and fog, and marshmallow and book precipitation. Second-graders at Bergen Meadow told a facilitator that crazy weather had been a writing prompt in school.

Jeffco school board President Ron Mitchell said the board will not change the separation agreement of former superintendent Cindy Stevenson, but instead will “clarify” parts of the pact that banned her from volunteering in schools.

School board members in March considered renegotiating Stevenson’s separation agreement to let her volunteer at district schools.

In a meeting that stretched almost to midnight, the board spent much of the time discussing how to address its top priority: increasing educator compensation in order to attract and retain talent within the school district.

Ending the controversial policy that links teacher pay to performance evaluations — a hallmark of the conservative school board majority that was recalled last November — would initially cost $3.5 million, the Jeffco school district’s human resources chief said last Thursday.

Two young aspiring songwriters and an aspiring filmmaker will have their work judged on the national level.

They are students at The Bergens, and they participated in the PTA’s Reflections program. Their songs and film were ranked so highly at the state competition that they’re headed to the national judging. Top entries will be announced May 1.

The top entry in each category gets an $800 scholarship and a trip to the national PTA convention in July to receive the award.